What is the pathway from the gut to the lungs? When I eat something I get a lot of phlegm in my lungs only a few minutes later. So it has to be from the stomach, and it can’t be coming from the lower intestines – just not enough time. I’m an engineer, not a doctor, so I don’t even know how to pronounce some of “those words”, much less know what they mean. But I have heard of the “vegus nerve” which goes from the gut to the brain with connections to the lungs, liver, etc. So, if I eat something does it trigger the vagus nerve that signals the lungs (maybe after going to the brain first), or does it go through the blood stream? This isn’t breathing related, it is eating related, and I have not smoked in 30 years. Somehow I don’t think there is time for digestion to get into the blood stream and cause that much phlegm in the lungs so quickly, but a nerve message from what just got started on the digestion would be sent almost instantly. When I take fisetin to control the phlegm I get a very quick relief yet they say it does not absorb well in the blood stream, so it makes me wonder if it better contacts the ends of the nerve cells on the stomach epithelia which sends the signal. Another concept might be that the phlegm has been building up for a long time and when we eat it triggers the release causing it to plug the bronchia and that causes a cough. Are the researchers looking at the correct pathway to find something to control the inflammation causing the excessive phlegm and coughing? Engineers seem to question if the problem is mechanical, chemical or electrical, and maybe doctors need to ask the same questions?????